Even if you've used a BlackBerry before, the new BlackBerry 10 user interface will surely get you confused. That's because the BlackBerry Q5 doesn't have a home key, a back button, an optical trackpad, or anything like that. Instead, navigating through the interface is done through gestures, which aren't the most convenient ones imaginable, at least in this case. You can learn more about them in our BlackBerry Z10 review. Thankfully, there's a tutorial explaining how these gestures work during the smartphone's first boot. Long story short, the learning curve can be steep and mastering the controls on your BlackBerry Q5 will most likely take a while.

The new BlackBerry 10 user interface

Messaging:

The BlackBerry Hub is where most text-based communication is done on a BlackBerry Q5. The solution integrates your email, text messaging, call history, and notifications, but also brings your social networking under the same roof. It is a pretty well-made solution that will be liked by socially active buyers.

The BlackBerry Hub

Processor and memory:

BlackBerry has done a great job at making sure that BB10 runs fluidly even on run-of-the-mill hardware from 2012. The BlackBerry Q5, for example, may have “just” a dual-core Snapdragon S4 chip clocked at 1.2GHz, but the little piece of silicon has absolutely no troubles with handling any task thrown at it. Multitasking is snappy as well, which comes as no surprise since there are 2GB of RAM on board the device. Overall, we did not encounter any lags or slowdowns during our testing.

If you're into gaming, then we have both good and bad news. The good news is that the BlackBerry Q5 is definitely powerful enough to run even flashy 3D games. The bad news, however, is that some titles were listed as incompatible with the Q5.

The 8GB of storage available on the BlackBerry Q5 are anything but plentiful. They will run out pretty soon, especially if you're into taking photos and video, or if you like to carry lots of music on your device. Thankfully, there's a microSD slot supporting cards of up to 64GB.

Web Browser and connectivity:

We have mixed feelings about the BlackBerry Q5 and its web browser. On one hand, the stock browser app is very fast and runs fluidly even while rendering heavy web pages. There's support for all essential stuff, such as multiple tabs, YouTube videos, there's even a quick way of accessing bookmarks and web history by pressing a keyboard button. However, the tiny, square screen on the BlackBerry Q5 makes surfing the web quite frustrating. You may still look up things on Wikipedia or search Google for the lyrics of your latest favorite song, of course, but overall, the experience is underwhelming.

The web browser of the BlackBerry Q5

The BlackBerry Q5 sure has what it takes to keep its owner connected to the web, such as support for 3G at up to 42Mbps and the even faster 4G LTE connectivity. In addition, you get all the basics, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and NFC.

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